psychoanalytic approach

Psychic Determinism

The assumption that everything that happens in a person’s mind has a specific, identifiable cause; there is no room for miracles, free will, or accidents.

Internal Structure: Id

The irrational and emotional part of the mind; operates on the Pleasure Principle.

Internal Structure: Ego

The rational part of the mind that mediates between the id and superego; operates on the Reality Principle.

Internal Structure: Superego

The moral part of the mind representing parental and societal values; operates on the Morality Principle.

Compromise Formation

The Ego’s main job: finding a middle ground between the competing demands of motivation, morality, and practicality.

Libido

Also known as "Life Drive"; the limited amount of mental energy used for the mechanisms of the mind (creation, protection, and enjoyment of life).

Libido

Also known as "Life Drive"; the limited amount of mental energy used for the mechanisms of the mind (creation, protection, and enjoyment of life).

Thanatos

The "Death Drive"; an innate drive toward destruction, often expressed through aggression.

Doctrine of Opposites

The idea that everything implies or even requires its opposite (e.g., life requires death, happiness requires sadness). Extremes on either end are more similar to each other than to the middle.

Conscious Mind

The part of mental functioning you can observe when you simply turn your attention inward.

The part of mental functioning you can observe when you simply turn your attention inward.

Preconscious Mind

Unconscious Mind

The largest and most important layer; includes all of the id and superego and most of the ego. It is buried deep and only accessible through specialized techniques.

Oral Stage

Theme: Dependency/Passivity. Focus: Mouth, lips, tongue. Character: Overly dependent or suspiciously independent.

Anal Stage

Theme: Control/Obedience. Focus: Anus and organs of elimination. Character: Obsessive/Stingy (Retentive) or Chaotic/Rebellious (Expulsive).

Phallic Stage

Theme: Gender identity/Sexuality. Focus: Sexual organs. Character: Over-developed or under-developed sexuality and morality.

Latency Stage

A period of relative calm where the child focuses on learning the skills and cognitive abilities needed for adulthood.

Genital Stage

Theme: Creation/Enhancement of life. Focus: Genitals/Mature relationships. Goal: To be able "to love and to work."

Fixation

Leaving a disproportionate amount of libido behind at a developmental stage because of unresolved conflict or over-emphasis.

Regression

Retreating to an earlier psychosexual stage under times of great stress or trauma.

Identification

Taking on the values and characteristics of the same-sex parent (usually during the Phallic stage) to resolve anxiety.

Anna Freud

The daughter of Sigmund Freud who is credited with formalizing and expanding the specific list of defense mechanisms.

Primary Process Thinking

The way the unconscious mind (the Id) operates. It is irrational, driven by the pleasure principle, and does not understand the word "no" or the concept of time. it uses displacement!

Secondary Process Thinking

The rational, conscious mind that develops second; it uses language and logic to navigate the real world.

Condensation

A primary process where several ideas are compressed into one (e.g., one person in a dream representing your boss, your dad, and a teacher).

Symbolization

A primary process where one object stands in for another, often used to hide the true meaning of an impulse.

Defense: Denial

Refusing to acknowledge a painful or anxiety-provoking reality.

Defense: Repression

Pushing a threatening thought or memory out of conscious awareness so it is forgotten.

Defense: Reaction Formation

Swapping an unacceptable impulse for its exact opposite (e.g., acting overly loving toward someone you resent).

Defense: Projection

Attributing your own unacceptable qualities or feelings to someone else.

Defense: Rationalization

Creating a logical, socially acceptable explanation for behavior that is actually driven by less-than-admirable motives.

Defense: Intellectualization

Thinking about a stressful event in cold, clinical, or abstract terms to avoid the emotional pain.

Defense: Displacement

Redirecting an impulse (usually aggression) from a dangerous target to a safe one (e.g., kicking the wall instead of hitting a person).

Defense: Sublimation

Converting a base or dangerous impulse into a noble, productive activity (e.g., aggression becoming a career in sports).

Transference

When a client projects feelings or patterns from a past relationship onto the therapist.

Countertransference

The therapist’s own emotional reaction to the client, which can be typical (defiance evokes control) or specific to the therapist’s history.

Levenson’s TLDP

Time-Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy: A modern approach focusing on cyclical maladaptive patterns and the therapeutic relationship.

Catharsis

The release of pent-up emotional tension through talking or reliving an experience.

McGinnies (1949)

Study using "dirty" vs. "neutral" words; showed that participants took longer to recognize sexually charged words, proving Perceptual Defense.

Alfred Adler

Neo-Freudian who emphasized Organ Inferiority and the Masculine Protest (compensating for feeling small/weak in childhood).

Carl Jung

Focused on the Collective Unconscious and archetypes (universal symbols shared by all humans).

Karen Horney

Rejected "penis envy" and focused on Basic Anxiety and how people navigate "moving toward," "moving against," or "moving away" from others.

Erik Erikson

Shifted focus to Psychosocial development (rather than psychosexual) and argued development continues throughout the entire lifespan.

Klein & Winnicott

Leaders in Object Relations Theory; focus on how we relate to mental images of people ("objects") and the use of Transitional Objects (e.g., security blankets).

Critiques of Freud

1. Unscientific (unfalsifiable). 2. Reliance on case studies (not generalizable). 3. Sexist. 4. Over-emphasis on sex/aggression.

How does the Psychoanalytic approach differ fundamentally from the Phenomenological approach?

Psychoanalysis focuses on the unconscious past and hidden drives; Phenomenology focuses on the conscious present and an individual's immediate, subjective experience of the world.